From having doctors tell him he had only one day to live to conquering 120 endurance races following a heart transplant, German cyclist Elmar Sprink is not stopping any time soon.
German cyclist Elmar Sprink, who has undergone a heart transplant, will tackle his second Cape Epic this month. Photo: braun_vision
And to prove it he will tackle his second Cape Epic this month.
The 48-year-old from Cologne started with endurance racing back in 2000 and with triathlon in 2004.
However, in 2010 he suffered cardiac arrest while sitting on his sofa at home.
“I was very lucky because my wife was at home, and my neighbour, who brought me back to life.
“In the hospital they did not know what was wrong with me.
“I had lived my whole life healthily and had checks at my doctors every few months. I got a defibrillator installed and they sent me back to work in October, 2010. In January, 2011, my heart problems started again.
“In 2011, I stayed every month in another hospital. But they did not know what was wrong and they just saw that my heart function went bad every month.”
In December, 2011, doctors had to remove his gall bladder. After the surgery he was taken to a transplant centre where he stayed in bed for seven months.
“In February, 2012, the doctors said I had only one day to live. They installed a VAD system and an ECMO. With both machines I was able to live until June 9, 2012, when I got my new heart.
“After all that I had to learn to sit, stand up and walk again. I had no more muscles after the long time in bed. They never found out what happened.”
Sprink started training again in August, 2012, but suffered some rejections, which he was told was normal in the first six months.
“In December, 2012, I stood on my snowboard again. I started jogging in January, 2013, with 700m.
“From that moment I decided to get back to triathlon and to advertise for organ donation in Germany, because only 24% of people are willing to donate their organs and a lot of people die during the waiting period.”
Sprink said exactly one year after his heart transplant he did his first triathlon again and climbed the highest mountain in Austria.
“In 2014 I finished the Ironman Germany in Frankfurt and I was the first person ever to finish the Ironman World Championship in Kona with a donor heart.
“In the meantime I’ve done six full Ironmans, 14 Ironman 70.3 races, I ran the Transalpine Run, did the Cape Epic, the Bike Transalp, ran the ZUT Ultra, and more.
“I was also world champion at the World Transplant Triathlon Games in Malaga in 2017 and 2019.”
This year, Sprink will tackle the eight-day Cape Epic with Peter Schermann of Wittlich, Germany.
Schermann suffered a stroke in 2017 at the age of 29 and is now back cycling with the professionals again.
“In 2017 it was the 50th anniversary of the first heart transplant done in Cape Town, so that made me enter it,” said Sprink.
“It was my first MTB race ever. Last year I watched the stages online and I wanted to do it again.”
Sprink and Schermann competed together in the 2017 Bike Transalp, the same year in which the latter had his stroke.
“He got back to pro level very soon. He knows my level of cycling and he will help me if necessary,” said Sprink.
“Goal-wise, first of all we want to finish it with a big smile on our face. Peter is a MTB pro, so we will do it at my pace. I learnt a bit from 2017. I’m here with a much better bike and a better tactic.
“We have both had hard times and know how things can change quickly in life. Being fit and being able to do the Epic is motivation enough. If I see how strong Peter is back cycling now, that is my motivation and I think it is also the other way around.”
Sprink added that he knew it would be tough and he had to watch his immune system carefully with cycling eight hard days in a row.
“We both have a good sense of humour and if it gets hard we’ll just make the other one smile.”
Regarding challenges that someone who’s had a heart transplant faces, he said the normal heart recipient had no nerves to the muscular organ.
“So the heart rate is increasing very slowly and is not getting up very high. My nerves grow back, not 100%, but almost back to normal.
“My range is from under 50 to way over 180, but the steep climbs are hard for me because the heart rate is not responding like that of all other Epic athletes. This time I am using an SRM power meter, which will help me a lot.”
Sprink, who rides for Ergon Bike Ergonomics, said his goal was to live a long life with the new heart and to be fit.
“I did almost every race from my list. Cape Epic is one of the most challenging races. It would be cool to get back to Kona again and race Ironman Hawaii.”
This will be the first Epic for the 32-year-old Schermann and he said the experience he had with Sprink at the Transalp was a big motivator in doing this race.
Elmar Sprink will tackle the eight-day Cape Epic with Peter Schermann (pictured) of Wittlich, Germany. Photo: Markus Greber
“Elmar’s story gives me so much inspiration. There are some things in the world you can’t change, but you can change the way you live with them,” said Schermann.
“When Elmar asked me, it was no question if I would do it.”
He added that his only goals were to complete the race, arrive at the finish in one piece and have as much fun as possible.
“We have been friends for a while now and we know each other quite well. You get to know your partner well in stage races, so I know how to handle situations and different characters pretty well.
“Elmar’s story is very inspirational for a lot of people. So we want to make sure it will be a good race for us both and it’s a big goal to finish it together,” said Schermann, who has competed at the last two marathon world champs, the European marathon champs and won the Algarve Bike Challenge.
He added that he was just trying to get better and be the best he could while having fun doing it.
“Also, to not forget where I started and the journey I have been on and am going through. I’m just happy to ride my bike every day.”
